US banking and wealth management powerhouses Citigroup and Merrill Lynch – the latter now owned by Bank of America - paid out a combined $9 billion in bonuses last year after suffering total losses of $54 billion, said a report by New York attorney general Andrew Cuomo, according to Bloomberg.

The bonuses came at a time when both banks, along with a raft of other financial institutions, received billions of dollars in public assistance under the Troubled Asset Relief Programme.

There has been debate over whether banks that receive taxpayers’ funds should have commercial freedom to decide executive remuneration. As a result, a number of banks, such as UK-listed Barclays and Credit Suisse in Switzerland, have made a virtue of not receiving such aid and relying on the capital markets for funding.

The news service said Mr Cuomo’s report on “bank bonus culture” analysed 2008 bonuses at nine banks that received TARP financing. Citigroup and Merrill received a total of $55 billion.

“When the banks did well, their employees were paid well. When the banks did poorly, their employees were paid well,” Cuomo’s office said in the report.

The report also said that Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan paid out a total of $18 billion in bonuses last year.